The present invention relates to communication services available via a data-centric network (i.e., a network that carries digital data) and a telephony-centric network (i.e., a network that carries telephony information such as voice, fax, pager, and the like). More particularly, the present invention relates to a centralized facility and methods therefor that allow a subscriber of various communication services to review and customize his communication options, in an interactive and simplified manner, via either the data-centric network or the telephony-centric network.
Both the data-centric network (e.g., a distributed computer network) and the telephony-centric network (e.g., public telephone network) have existed for some time. Broadly speaking, the data-centric network (such as the Internet) may be thought of as a global computer network that connects millions of computer terminals all over the world in such a way that digitized information can be exchanged irrespective of the different hardware and software platforms that may be utilized to gain access to the data-centric network. People and businesses around the world use the data-centric network to retrieve information, communicate and conduct business globally, and access a vast array of services and resources on-line. In a similar manner, the telephony-centric network (whether wired or wireless) may also be thought of as another global network that connects the millions of telephony devices (such as voice-oriented telephones, pagers, facsimile machines, voice mail boxes, and the like) together in such a way that a user at one of the telephony devices can readily transmit information to other telephony devices irrespective of geographic boundaries.
In the past, these two networks existed as separate domains. This is because the widely accessible data-centric network is a fairly recent phenomenon. For decades, the only network that has been available to the masses is the analog telephony-centric network, starting with the telegraph network of the nineteenth century. However, as more and more of the services traditionally offered through the telephony-centric network are being offered in a digital format by the data-centric network, the distinction between the data-centric network and the telephony-centric network begins to blur. Irrespective of whether these two networks exist as separate networks physically or conceptually going forward, the legacies of their separate existence can be seen in the various different communication services and communication devices that currently exist.
By way of example, there exist many different communication devices and services available today to allow a person to communicate to another person, e.g., telephones, facsimile machines, electronic mail (e-mail), pagers, voice mail, and the like. Generally speaking, a telephone is a communication device employed to transmit and receive speech and other sounds. A facsimile machine is a communication device to transmit and receive graphical data. A pager is a highly portable device that allows its user to receive data, and in some cases transmit limited data to a pager service provider. A voice mail box is essentially a service that allows one person to temporarily store telephone messages for retrieval by another. E-mail services allow e-mail users to transmit and receive data from computer terminals connected to the data-centric network. All these devices and services are well known in the art and will not be elaborated further for the sake of brevity.
Currently, these communication services are viewed, both by the service providers who create and maintain the network infrastructure and the subscribers who employ the devices and networks for communication, as separate services. This is due, partly but not entirely, to past government deregulation efforts and gradual technological evolution that have given rise to different service providers, all competing to provide the communication services to individual consumers. Thus, it is not unusual for a consumer to have an e-mail account with one service provider, a telephone account with another service provider and a pager account with yet another service provider. Even if the different services are contracted through a single service provider, the dual existence of the data-centric network and the telephony-centric network, as well as existing billing and account management infrastructures, often force the service provider to manage each of these services as a separate account.
One of the consequences of having different accounts for different services is the proliferation of telephone numbers, facsimile numbers, and pager numbers that a typical consumer must deal with. Thus, it is not at all unusual for a consumer to have a home telephone number, a work telephone number, one or more cellular telephone numbers, a pager number, and a facsimile number, with each of these numbers being assigned to a different communication device. Not only are these various numbers difficult to remember for the consumer, they are confusing to others.
A more serious consequence is the burden on the consumer who needs to manage the communication options associated with the different services (which are now assigned to different physical devices and managed as different accounts) to ensure that incoming and outgoing messages are properly handled. By way of example, a person who travels may wish to forward voice calls made to his home and office telephone numbers to his cellular telephone or hotel telephone. Likewise, he may wish to divert facsimiles sent to his office facsimile machine to a facsimile machine that is more local. While in a meeting, however, he may wish to temporarily divert the voice calls to his voice mail box or forward it to another person for handling. To stay in touch, these communication options may need to be changed many times during the course of the day and/or each time he arrives at a new location.
To accomplish the above, the person in the above example currently needs to first ascertain the current communication option settings associated with the various services that he uses. Unless he is diligent in noting and/or remembering the recent changes in the communication option settings, he may need to call each of the service providers to find out what the current communication option settings are. Assuming that he knows the current communication option settings and such calls need not be made, the user must still access each communication device and/or contact each service provider to reroute the incoming and outgoing messages.
By way of example, some facsimile machines currently allow the user to forward the incoming facsimile to another facsimile machine by entering a particular combination of the forwarding number and predefined codes on the facsimile machine keypad. Likewise, many telephone systems require the user to physically enter the forwarding telephone number and predefined codes on the keypad of the telephone from which forwarding originates. However, this requires the user to be physically present at the facsimile machine or telephone from which forwarding originates. If he owns one of these telephones or facsimile machines and is on the road, such forwarding would not be possible absent help from another person who has such physical access.
The fact that each communication service is treated as a different account also requires the user in the example above to access each account and/or service provider to accomplish the changes. Thus, multiple calls may need to be made to change the communication option settings associated with the different communication services. Even with automated response systems in place to handle such changes, these calls take time and can aggravate even the most patient users, especially if multiple calls need to be made to the multiple service providers each time he moves from one location to another. As can be appreciated by those skilled in the art, such approach is at best time consuming and unwieldy.
More typically, a busy user would just not bother changing the communication options associated with the various communication devices that he owns. He would rather suffer the possibility of missing out on some messages than constantly contacting the different service providers and making changes on individual services. In this case, the communication services that he owns are not employed to their fullest potential.
In view of the forgoing there are desired improved techniques for allowing a user of communication services to review and customize the communication options associated with these services in a simplified and convenient manner.